Out 31 October, 2025
Via Pure Noise Records
Mark Polst @dothefknreview
Bloom are back, and they’ve absolutely outdone themselves. The Sydney five piece have always been open about wearing their emotions on their sleeves, but with The Light We Chase, they’ve taken that vulnerability, smashed it into a wall of riffs, and carved out something equal parts devastating and uplifting. It’s a record that doesn’t just punch, it throws down with surgical fkn precision.
Right from the opening of Belrose, Bloom flex their trademark contrast, soaring, anthemic hooks colliding with serrated guitars and gut punch breakdowns. Forget Me Not and Out of Reach dig into the darker side of self reflection, spitting back themes of fragility and fractured trust while still managing to sound massive. The record thrives on these dualities, beauty and brutality constantly twisting around each other.
The guest spots only heighten the impact. Patrick Miranda – Movements lends Keep You a ghostly romanticism, Jack Bergin – Void Of Vision fuels Act II with pure venom, while Mikaila Delgado – Yours Truly softens the edges of Tongue Tied before the storm comes roaring back. Withered, easily Bloom’s most fkd up, gut wrenching track to date scorches into your brain like you didn’t have a choice.
The Light We Chase isn’t just heaviness for heaviness’ sake. It’s the scope. The way Bloom fold shoegaze textures into hardcore chaos. The way they use silence and space as weapons. The way grief and desperation are turned into something strangely cathartic.
It’s not just a record about breaking down, it’s about crawling through the wreckage, bloodied and gasping, but still fucking moving forward. On album two, Bloom are one of Australia’s most vital heavy bands, and they’re writing the kind of records that reshape the scenes landscape.
‘The Light We Chase is their (Bloom’s) biggest masterpiece so far‘
9.5/10
